D'Antoni in the spotlight

Jan. 30, 2012 @ 09:16 PM

ANDREW RAMSPACHER

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In the bowels of Time Warner Cable Arena, the visiting locker room sits neatly tucked underneath Section 107. From there, it’s a slight turn right and a full sprint to the hardwood the Charlotte Bobcats call home.

A brief turn left, however, and you might just get a few cameras in your face as well as a crop of rolling recorders.

During a January day turned to night in this rushed NBA season, Mike D’Antoni went left on three occasions.

The former Marshall University basketball standout of the early 1970s who’s now reached the Thundering Herd jersey retiring stage of his post-playing career can’t run from the spotlight these days. He’s in the fourth year of his pressure-cooking tenure as head coach of the New York Knicks.

On this particular date — Jan. 24 — D’Antoni’s Knicks were taking on the Bobcats in the midst of a six-game losing streak, were still waiting for a veteran point guard to return to health and were hardly looking like the Eastern Conference title contenders many people had projected.

For more of this story check Tuesday's edition of The Herald-Dispatch in print and online.